The Art of Taking Things Slowly

WWE, and wrestling in general, is known for having some elaborate story lines. I personally like to think of wrestling as a soap opera with a lot more ass kicking.

For the last few months it feels like RAW has been on repeat. No proper story development, no championship matches, or really even setups for matches. They focus everything on two individuals right now: Roman Reigns and Ronda Rousey. Leaving the rest of the roster either placed in six-man tag matches or a match that has absolutely no relevance to anything.

Growing up and watching wrestling, it always left you anticipating next week's episode. It felt like you were actually watching a show, there was a beginning, middle, and end, and when we were lucky the amazing cliffhangers. (Stone Cold picking up HHH in a car with a forklift and dropping it from 30 ft high... "Bah Gawd he killed him!")

One of the greatest feuds will undoubtedly be Stone Cold and Vince McMahon. This feud lasted years, and some can argue that it still isn't over.

Vince McMahon, as everyone knows him is the CEO of WWE, and Stone Cold works for him. While Vince was never really in the ring during this feud, it just means there was that much thought and effort put into each and every interaction these two had. For over a year we got to see Vince interrupt, disrupt and cost Stone Cold some big matches. We also got to see Stone Cold ride in on a beer truck and hose down Vince (easily the greatest moment in RAW history), we saw Stone Cold pretend to be a doctor and attack Vince with a bedpan. All are moments that will still be talked amongst fans for years to come.

Shawn Michaels vs Bret Hart...now there is a feud. That even broke kayfabe during the infamous Montreal Screwjob. The Montreal Screwjob will always be a hot topic amongst wrestling fans, especially Canadians. And even to this day we are still unsure of why things went down the way they did, who really knew what was going on and who should take the blame.

It wasn't that uncommon for feuds to break kayfabe, spending weeks on end with people you're bound to push each other's buttons, either on stage or backstage. Even the best of friends behind the scenes would cut some of the best promos because they would shoot and use real life situations. All leading the fans to believe more and more into the storyline.

Now with social media and the ADD within the fans, there seems to hardly be any story lines, and if there is, they are short lived and quickly forgotten.

I believe wrestlers should have a lot more free range when cutting promos. With social media, fans are now able to find out everything and anything they want on their favorite wrestlers. Wrestlers also share their lives more and more with fans, using Instagram, Twitter and SnapChat. Fans get an even more personal look into their lives. This also allows the characters to take their feuds beyond the ring.

The Shield, one of the most dominant factions since 2012, had recently just got back together. Dean Ambrose had been out for over a year with a shoulder injury, and upon his return was also the return of The Shield. Most fans realized why they were quick to putting The Shield back together, it was the only way to get people to cheer Roman Reigns (side note: still didn't work, anytime he speaks they boo...and loudly).

Monday started off very emotional. Roman Reigns, current Universal Champion, came out in street clothes, which meant some sort of announcement. There was rumours circulating that he was injured because he was taken off of the weekend house shows. He started talking and that's when things got real. Reigns broke kayfabe and gave us his real name, Joe A'onai, and said that he has been living with leukemia for 11 years and it's back. You could feel the air get sucked out of the arena through the TV. Reigns said he needs to focus on getting better and be with his family, but that in no way is this a retirement speech and he will be back home very very soon.

Regardless of how you view Roman Reigns, this is something no wrestling fan or human would want for anyone.

Fans never seem to be happy with what the WWE gives them. It's a constant lose/lose situation, which is why the writers and or creative seem to have such a hard time. Fans ask for one thing, they're given it and then they crap all over it how it's not done right or how they could do it better.

The Daniel Bryan & Miz feud was such a slow build. They planted the seed, they let it grow, they watered it, gave it just the right amount of sun and it blossomed into a great match.

WWE needs to bring back the story lines, we need the feuds to make sense and we need characters that we can either love or hate. Just like with all good relationships, you can't rush things. When you rush, you get sloppy and careless and fans get the same 6 woman tag match...every single week.